The unleashed power of the atom
has changed everything
save our modes of thinking
and we thus drift
toward unparalleled catastrophe. —Albert Einstein, 1945

Our precious lives, and the fate of our planet, are at stake in every moment. The ongoing development, stockpiling, and threatened use of nuclear weapons has involved us all in a deadly game in which there can be no winners. Even if we eliminated all the weapons tomorrow, we would only have bought ourselves some time. We will always know how to build nuclear weapons. We will always be able to discover new weapons if we want them. The only permanent solution is to change our thinking to see that war of any kind is no longer an acceptable method for resolving conflict.

Many groups today are focused on the necessity of changing our minds about the efficacy of war as a means of conflict resolution. One such agency, the Beyond War movement, begun in 1982 as a grassroots response to the need for a change of heart and a change of thinking, was revived in 2003 as a special project of the Foundation for Global Community. The movement is based on three foundational ideas:

• War is obsolete
• We all live on one planet together
• The means are the ends in the making

The commitment to building a world beyond war involves a hard look at our individual lives and the national and international policies we support. We cannot create a world beyond war while we still harbor the mindset of fear; think that conflict and violence can solve our problems; create enemies" of others; and overshadow the core issue of our oneness with all life. Everyone can make peaceful efforts to counteract these ways of thinking and take constructive action to support a greater sense of global community. One person does make a difference. That person is you.

For information about Beyond War 2003, see www.beyondwar2003.org or contact the Foundation for Global Community, 222 High St., Palo Alto, CA 94301 (800) 707-7932.

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